Shifts in NHS for Nurses/HCA's

surreysaver

I hope I never end up in hospital! I would hate to end up being killed by a fatigued nurse who is too scared to stand up for themself!

clairec79

But when that nurse knows it is the choice between a fatigued nurse and no nurse she turns up - yes it's crap and wrong but we all go into this profession because we care, unfortunately management know this and play on it

Scousebird_2

What does it mean if shifts are ''on rotation''-does it mean you do a permenent week of one shift, then the next week it changes and so-forth??

Or does it change daily?? My ward is 24hrs that I will work on.

Someone told me that when you are new-you don't do nights to start until you get used to things-is this true??

trishandbubs

On rotation means that you will rotate from day shifts to night shifts and have to do your fair shair. Unfortunately no matter if its your first shift you could be starting on nights, its not ideal but depends on if they need staff for that shift or not.

As for the 12 hour shifts my husband loves them and is less tired on them than the short shifts as they are not that much longer and you then have more days off than days working in the week.

surreysaver

There are lots of issues with 12 hour shifts - some people prefer them, and are less fatiged - some people get more fatiged on 12 hour shifts. Some people have a large distance to travel - this gives them even less rest time between shifts. Or other commitments - childcare for example. You cannot give a child to a babysitter for 14 or 15 hours! NHS seem to think that 12 hour shifts are more family friendly - I do not agree with this, as you will not see your family on the days you work 12 hours, and your days off you will be more knackered. Then if someone goes sick, a 12 hour shift is more difficult to cover - with 8-hour shifts someone could stay on and do 12 hours, and someone could come in early to cover the back end of the uncovered shift. You cannot ask someone to do more than 12 hours. Other industries have introduced 12 hour shifts, and now regret it.

wendyphant

I loved 12 hours I had to pay for less childcare because at full time I was in work for 3 days not 5......but new management started in july and al has changed to the original 7 - 230 2-930 9-730 which has forced me to go part time due to child care issues in fact OVER 60% of staff on our unit dropped hours which caused massive problems

PasturesNew

Have you thought about getting a scooter?

I used to cycle 6 miles to my first job ... back then bikes were sit-up-old-lady type, with 3 sturmey gears. Not for long, I bought a moped within 8 months

PasturesNew

I've worked a few jobs that were 4 days/week and personally I love a 3-day long weekend every week. I used to feel really refreshed each Monday, whereas normally going to work just drones on and drags you down when you're doing it 5 days/week for 48 weeks/year.

With a 4-day working week and 3 day weekend it felt like I had a holiday every week. I'd love to do 12 hour days. The hard bit about any job is the time wasted getting ready/dressed and commuting there/back.

Scousebird_2

I never really thought of it like that-thanks PasturesNew!

bex2002

Hi i work in heamatology in acute medicine and we tend to work long days, our shifts start at 7.30am and finish at 8pm on a day shift and start at 7.30 pm and finish at 8am for a night shift. It is difficult to have flexible start and finish times as there are other staff waiting to finish and go home though you may beable to discuss this with recruitment or HR to see if there is any flexibility. I ride a scooter as it is cheap to run and can get to work in time as public transport can be unreliable, especially at weekends.